[PEN-L:33054] war against Iraq update

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: war against Iraq update

from SLATE's news summary:>According to the WP's [Washington POST's] off-lead, the Bush administration has received "a credible report" that Islamic extremists in northern Iraq have gotten hold of some sort of poison gas, possibly VX nerve agent. The Post says government analysts "suspect" that it was smuggled overland via Turkey. If true, says the Post, the report would be "the most concrete evidence" to support the White House's contention "that al-Qaida terrorists receive material assistance in Iraq." That's sneaky language. The al-Qaida affiliated radicals are in Kurdish-controlled Iraq, so while they might be receiving assistance in the country that doesn't mean they're getting help from it. And by the way, why would Saddam route chemical weapons through a second country?

 
>Meanwhile, take the whole WP report with a jar-full of salt. It gives the feel of being on the receiving end of a game of

telephone: The administration officials passing on the report aren't named, nor is there really any detail about the information itself. The Post, to its credit, acknowledges the flimsiness of the tip, calling it "uncollaborated" and even noting that one official said that it "resulted only from an analyst's hypothetical concern." So why is it on Page One? <

this story sounds like the case of the Kuwaiti incubators (i.e., a pure propaganda story being cooked up to justify the war). So does the story if the Iraqi atropine:

 
>The Post says in another frontpage piece that though the U.S. has been trying to stop Iraq's purchase of atropine, a drug used to treat heart attacks and as an antidote for nerve gas, it actually approved such Iraqi purchases for years. The Post gives itself a pat on the back and says that "until now it was not known" that Iraq had actually been buying the stuff. Except the [Wall Street JOURNAL] reported last month: "U.S. CLEARED IRAQ'S PURCHASES OF ANTIDOTE FOR NERVE AGENTS." On another note, Iraq's desire for atropine was first broken by the NY [TIMES], which strongly suggested that the dosages Iraq ordered were only appropriate for military uses. Today's WP says otherwise.<

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine